Okiro embezzles N275m, Kaase, PSC official, insists

Mr Aaron Kaase, an official of the Police Service Commission (PSC), who accused the commission’s Chairman, Mr Mike Okiro, of embezzling N275 million, has urged Nigerians to be bold to expose corrupt practices.
Kaase spoke on Thursday in Abuja.
Kaase had petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the alleged fraud.
Asked what prompted him to petition against Okiro, he said he did that because somebody needed to speak up against corruption.
“The first thing is to set the record straight. Because of fear, because of victimisation, because of the fear of death, Nigerians do not speak out. This is a case of deliberate misrepresentation of fact from Mr Okiro, in order to commit fraud.
“Okiro wrote to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), asking for approval, selective tendering to train 200 of our staff in Lagos,’’ he said.
According to him, the commission does not have an office in Lagos and in the South-West.
He also said that part of the N350 million requested from the BPP was to train the commission’s 200 staff in Kano and 500 staff in Abuja.
Kaase, who is currently on suspension from the commission, said the commission has only eight people in Kano, while its entire staff strength nationwide is 382.
“Now, when a man that is supposed to superintend over the police is set out deliberately to defraud the government, using false information and we all keep quiet, somebody has to speak out. I spoke out, I wrote a petition, I put my name, my staff number and I put my telephone number,’’ he said.
On claim by Okiro that he connived with a journalist to blackmail him with the allegation to collect N10 million, Kaase described the claim as untrue.
“That is completely false. I will never blackmail him, why will I blackmail him. Why is he thinking somebody has to blackmail him because there is information against him? I have never blackmailed anybody,’’ he said.
He also debunked the claim by the commission’s chairman that he wanted to share the money with a journalist to fund his wedding in May, adding he had already married with four children.
It will be recalled that Okiro addressed newsmen on Monday to deny the allegation, adding that it was an attempt to blackmail him by the duo to collect the money.
The ICPC had quizzed Okiro on June 4 over the alleged fraud.